Plant Stress (Aug 2022)
Gamma radiation: A potential tool for abiotic stress mitigation and management of agroecosystem
Abstract
Context: Being sessile, it is impossible for the plants to evade from the unfavourable environmental conditions prevailing due to various abiotic stresses like heat, salinity, drought, flood, heavy metals, and high radiance amongst many others. These abiotic stresses disrupt plant growth and limit crop productivity to a large extent globally. Crop plants need to acclimatize themselves in these unsuitable environmental and edaphic conditions utilizing their inherent biological mechanisms. Massive amount of pertinent researches have been done in the last few decades regarding utilization of gamma rays for improvement in traits, and management of agroecosystem by developing superior quality crops/ germplasms. It has been well established that the gamma rays promotes abiotic stress tolerance in plants at low doses (50–100 Gy). Gamma rays are also being widely used as mutation techniques in an attempt to raise abiotic stress tolerance and, disease resistant crop varieties. Furthermore, a better understanding of tolerance mechanisms induced by gamma rays will help in improving crop productivity under stress conditions. However, the potential mechanisms involved in this are still indefinable. This review illustrates general information about gamma ray, its dose dependant responses; beneficial effects and lethality, and also the potential mechanism(s) underlying the tolerance induction and performance enhancement of plants growing under various abiotic stress conditions. Objective: To elucidate the role of gamma rays as a potential tool for stress mitigation and management of agroecosystem. Methods: Gamma rays have been used quite differently by various researchers for alleviation of abiotic stress imposed responses in plants. Results and conclusions: Application of gamma radiation has popularly been noticed to enhance nutrient uptake, modulate biosyntheses of numerous secondary key metabolites and osmolytes, and regulate various metabolic activities to engender tolerance against environmental stresses. Significance: In most of the developing and under developed nations, owing to limited development in agro-management systems, abiotic stresses are seen to cause potential threats to growth and productivity of crops. Therefore, it is essentially to explore novel cost effective possibilities like use of low dose of gamma rays in crop plants for improvement in their performance during these rapidly changing climatic conditions.
